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The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council that met in Srinagar has declared tax slabs and cesses for more than 1,000 items, and among them is art — a category that till now was exempted from VAT in some states, including West Bengal. In Rajasthan, the tax was much lower. The tax reform has listed it under the tax bracket of 12 per cent, including, among others, “paintings, drawings and pastels”, “original engravings, prints and lithographs”, “original sculptures and statuary in any material”…

Aakriti Art Gallery had started the GenNext series of exhibitions to focus on young artists, who, it thought, showed promise. Most of the participants of this particular show were born in the 1980s, with one of them, Nihaal Faizal, born as late as in the 1990s. In its sixth edition (up to October 15), GenNext shows every sign of maturity, manifested in not only more carefully chosen works but also better display as more space is available now…

Notice Board - Internship Call

Aakriti Art Gallery is seeking to recruit 2 Gallery Interns to join the team at an exciting time before a busy forthcoming exhibition and art fair period.

Location: Kolkata

Key Responsibilities will include:

Responsible for the day-to-day running of the gallery, interacting with clients and facilitating all phases of the exhibition planning process.

Meet clients and receipt items for the relevant sale. Manage the gallery with assistance. Monitor incoming and outgoing items. Ensure that the gallery area is presentable at all times.

Deal with email enquiries. Assist with photography and take additional photographs of items for clients and specialists. Liaise with vendors and specialists to confirm sale estimates and reserves.

Assist in the production of sale catalogues. Upload relevant text and images to the various online sites.

Organise marketing and advertising in print and electronic media. Monitor web based advertising. Compose mass emails to clients in the run up to the auction. Understand and engage with social media in various forms.

Manage the consignment of artworks and prepare the saleroom for exhibitions. Assist specialists with all pre-exhibition enquiries.

Ensure that all gallery website content are monitored and kept up to date. Assist with the break-down of the exhibition and the preparation for the sale day.

Assist with invoicing and payment in the days following the sale. Assist with shipping and arrange postage and packaging for lower value items.

The candidates are also expected to travel when and where required with gallery office work, shows or events

MISTY CURTAIN AND THE MACABRE TOUCH by Soumitra Das

Aakriti Art Gallery had started the GenNext series of exhibitions to focus on young artists, who, it thought, showed promise. Most of the participants of this particular show were born in the 1980s, with one of them, Nihaal Faizal, born as late as in the 1990s. In its sixth edition (up to October 15), GenNext shows every sign of maturity, manifested in not only more carefully chosen works but also better display as more space is available now owing to the limited number of exhibits.

In earlier editions, often more shiny and essentially crude works used to be shown, but with time the gallerist seems to have become more discerning. Most of the artists have chosen more traditional forms of expression such as painting, and only two participants have used photographs. Of course, one can say that the artists have played safe. While that is a fact, even that is not always a guarantee of quality.

Two of the artists have appropriated well-known Kalighat pata images like many other earlier participants, but this time the technical quality is of a much higher order. There are fresher ideas too, which are all the better for their simplicity. Sudipta Das from Assam has created both her works with strips of paper touched with watercolour. So, in effect, her works are like large hairy wall-hangings or curtains that tickle your imagination as they look familiar enough but, at the same time, elude an easy explanation.

Vidhan Kumar of Bihar has something more obvious to speak of — rising prices and their effect on ordinary lives and the electoral system. Instead of making any grandiose statement, he uses the straightforward device of the stencils used to print symbols of various political parties to create an umbrella-like form. The latter, in turn, could be anything from an unfurled brolly to a dish antenna. What is important is that its shiny surface with the cut-out holes looks exciting enough.

Equally stimulating is Rajesh Kumar Ranjan’s work in which he uses countless, tiny stainless steel balls to conjure up forms that resemble a monstrous biological specimen floating in formaldehyde and a complex solar system comprising tightly packed planets without any breathing space between them. Such a phenomenon would be horrific beyond the wildest imaginings of science fiction.

Small boxes like islands interconnected with electrical wires and lit inside to focus on small drawings or suggestions of forms within them. This is how Dharitri Boro’s works may be described in short. Boro was born in Assam and was trained at MS University in Baroda. The drawings suggest embryonic forms that in turn look like germinating seeds, and insects trapped in amber. Both works are clearly thought out and executed.

Nihaal Faizal uses photographs to construct his images. Assembly Line has a touch of macabre humour. Innumerable clones of Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, who are either extreme sports freaks or perhaps have a suicidal streak, jump out of a factory building. Two of them have already made a successful landing and wave out like stars. Francesca Ramello from Italy is the only foreigner participating this time. She uses photographs as well but the result is quite disappointing, particularly the floral modifications.

There is a touch of the macabre and grotesque in the painting of Sumantra Mukherjee as well. A ganja-smoking devotee of Kali screams or perhaps sings, exposing his tonsils in a drawing that severely distorts his facial features. The other painting, however, is more of a surrealist cliché.

Kanika Shah of Vadodara in Gujarat is a neat printmaker. She realizes the importance of leaving out virgin space so that the viewer’s attention is focused entirely on the image itself. Even colours she uses sparingly. In Still it Blossoms in My Garden for You she uses an expanse of red and a touch of pink on a white ground. The result is absolutely cool. Her childlike evocation of a train journey is quirky — even funny. Yet she is tremendously skilled as well, as is evident from her etching and embossing in this diptych.

Rajarshi Sengupta’s painting of new-rich babu, on the other hand, shows how a simple idea that has been in currency since the 19th century can go wrong if the treatment is too overwrought. The works of Prem Kumar Singh, originally from Jharkhand but based in Vadodara, mark the triumph of simplicity. His White Landscape-3 is shrouded in a curtain of grey mist, an enigmatic and elusive work that invites the viewer to unravel its mystery.

Aakriti Art Gallery is one of the most vibrantly active venues of art in India. It exhibits a range of works of artists who are groundbreaking contemporary visionaries, young upcoming talents or historical masters. Founded in 2005 in Kolkata, the Gallery today has more than 1000 works in its collection which are put on display by rotation.

One of the core initiatives of Aakriti which is perused at tandem with the regular programme is the promotion of young upcoming talent. Providing them a platform to launch their artistic careers, stock their works and even buy the work outright that shows creativity and creative uniqueness motivates us as much as exhibiting for famous personalities from the art world.

Aakriti believes in representing a broad spectrum of visual language, style and concepts to reach out to the art community and beyond. It has always been our endeavor to increase awareness, understanding and appreciation of art forms . The new website would equip you with various new features. Our new website gives you the opportunity to navigate through the artworks in the gallery, information about forthcoming events and activities that happen throughout the year.

In case you wish to get in touch with us for knowing more about our activities, purchase of art, call our help desk at 91 33 22895041 or leave a message at admin@aakritiartgallery.com. We would be glad to come to your assistance.Aakriti Art Galleryhttp://www.aakritiartgallery.com/